Video, Horseshoe 16 (After arrivals)

[tactlesstantei]

[The video clicks on to show Masumi in the library looking a bit annoyed over something. What it is becomes clear as she pulls a stack of four books into view and places them on the table next to her.]

I decided to test some things with the order system on the train since it seems that the train got odd versions of certain books instead of what was expected, so I ordered four books that I know exist back in my world.

[Here she picks up two books from the pile; one the first book in the Night Baron series and one the first in the Detective Samonji series.]

I haven’t had time to do more than a quick skim, but these two appear to be what I expected to get. I’ll have to read them to be sure they’re the same, but it looks like these two are unchanged.

[Setting the two aside, she picks up the remaining two books. It looks like she tried to order copies of The Hound of the Baskervilles and a Nancy Drew book, but they’re visibly different.]

These two are different, and quick skims show that the content seems to be altered as well. I’d have to read these too to see how different they are, but my theory is that these are alternate world versions of what I wanted. I don’t know why the train picked these ones to be the alternate world copies while the other two are what I expected, but here we are.

I’ll be putting these in the library when I’m done with them, if anyone wants to check them out.

Comments

[zechs_isonfire]

Curious. I haven't heard of the Night Baron or Detective Samonji, but I have heard of Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew.

[ Frowns at the camera ]

So why would there be censorship of books that are shared between worlds? It seems counterproductive, if that's indeed the uniting factor between changed books.

[tactlesstantei]

It is. The train apparently wants us to be happy, since there was a poll about what kind of new carriage we wanted before the library was added, but then it goes and gives different versions of certain books instead of the versions we wanted.

[Now the question was why only books shared between worlds, if that was the connecting factor?]

[zechs_isonfire]

[ He had an inkling of a theory, even if he needed much more data than a single conversation. But he suggested; ]

Perhaps the more people know of a story, the less likely it'll appear. Perhaps your books are available on my world, but they're merely obscure, or forgotten.

So, perhaps ... this train sees a work we collectively think about and consider as dangerous.

[ Why else censor it? ]